Writing more blogs and service pages sounds like a logical plan for reaching audiences and improving search visibility. But a website content strategy that delivers long-term results should start with what’s truly needed before publishing anything new. Of course, new posts and pages will eventually be necessary, but quick results often come from improving, consolidating or better supporting what already exists. Here’s why creating new content should not always be the first stage of a content strategy.
Why a Website Content Strategy Starts With Existing Pages
While many mature websites have a large collection of published pages that are often aimed at the right topics, if the content is thin, repetitive or disconnected from the rest of the site, it will always fall short. Your impulse might be to create additional content, stat! However, building out more content without resolving these foundational weaknesses is more likely to compound the problem than to fix it.
The above reflects the same conditions that our team at Rocks Digital Marketing found on a food allergy doctor’s website. The site, built by a previous company, had issues including thin content on service pages and near-identical internal linking to the same 12 pages, regardless of the service or allergy being discussed. When Rocks Digital took on this SEO client, we first completed a manual audit, added strong content to three sections, cut down the internal linking, and made each page’s “Explore More” area relevant to its subject. Tree nut allergy pages, for example, now link to topically relevant tree nut blogs and service pages. With this foundation in place, we could then move forward and create new service pages to further build out the topical cluster.
How Competing Pages Hurt Search Performance
Another issue occurs when multiple pages have been developed around the same topic. Two pages can have different URLs and different keywords, yet still target the same service and the same intent behind a search, and this is problematic.
While we often see this with new SEO clients that hire Rocks Digital to straighten things out, one specific junk removal client immediately comes to mind. Their website had service pages on top of service pages targeting essentially the same service. And when I say service pages on top of service pages, by the way, I mean like 30 or 40 of them. In one specific instance, this involved separate pages for “office furniture removal” and “office junk furniture removal.” These pages were light on detail and covered the same ground without any real depth. The pages included internal linking to every other service page within the content, and perhaps only 100 or so words of unique content total. And as we audited the service pages on their website we found this repeatedly, including related service pages like “electronics removal” and “computer removal.”
When an SEO campaign starts with a content strategy from the very beginning, you can avoid unintentionally building a disorganized website. Sometimes separate pages are justified but need stronger distinctions between them, while other times combining overlapping pages into one authoritative page is the answer.
Content Strategy Starts With Foundational Pages
Producing a steady output of blog posts will not matter if your website doesn’t have the foundational service pages that potential customers are searching for. A client that’s a long-distance moving company is a great example of this.
When we first started working with them, we found they had only five core service pages. Unfortunately these were thin top-level pages that failed to cover the full scope of their services. For example, the long-distance moving page missed the opportunity to cover cross-country, state-to-state, interstate, intrastate, apartment, condo, senior and specialty moves that fall within the category. On top of that, the large blog library they did have was missing key optimization elements like internal links, titles and headings. Let’s not mention the lack of image optimization, image alts and proper image credit.
This demonstrates where and why having a content strategy is so important. By recognizing what the moving company needed, we expanded the core service pages so they actually reflected the breadth of the company’s services. We repaired the foundation first, then added more service pages from there.
Smart Content Writing Starts With Strategy
Taken together, these examples show that the right content decision depends on the website itself. A content strategy could point towards any of the following.
- Creating content that fills a real need in service or information coverage.
- Improving pages that have the right purpose but not enough depth.
- Consolidating pages competing for the same search intent.
- Prioritizing foundational pages before producing more supporting content.
Ultimately, the goal is to make sure what gets published actually serves a purpose. Rocks Digital’s content writing services consistently create new service pages, blog posts, FAQ and various resources for clients, but everything we publish remains driven by a content strategy. This means content is tied to a site and content plan that brings in visitors, engagement and brand authority.
Content Strategy Powered by Writing for Real SEO Growth
At Rocks Digital, we develop website content strategies and write content for local and national businesses. With decades of combined digital marketing experience, our content writing and SEO team can help you reach new customers and build your online brand. Call (214) 989-7549 or request an SEO evaluation today.
